Thursday, May 31, 2012

Injustice: Gods Among Us

I don't really do "fighting games" let alone consoles but at least the trailer kicks ass:


Wednesday, May 30, 2012

And thus...EmoStar was born

There was one character I had yet to make in Diablo 3 and that was the lame stereotypical class the Demon Hunter. While I hated the Witch Doctor I flat out loathed the Demon Hunter. But it had to be done to get the achievements I wanted.

So I made one and out came the black haired cutter EmoStar!

Fond of listening to the Cure (or for you younger kids Coldplay) and cutting himself over bad grades and ex girlfriends, EmoStar was ready to take on the legions of Diablo.





Discontinued Infinity miniatures

Hot off the presses

The following miniatures will be discontinued from September, 1st:

Yu Jing: -280318-0086: Zhanshi Yisheng
-280320-0103: Zhanshi Gōngchéng
-280329-0158: Yáozăo

Nomads:

-280523-0147: Clockmakers
-280553-0353: Daktaris 2
-280533-0202: Zondbots
*Note: The figure 280516-0095 Daktaris won’t be discontinued.

As we release new Support Packs in the future, the blisters that compose them will be discontinued 3 months after the release.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Comic book recovery and digital collecting

The Marvel and DC comic digital applications have revived my love for comic books. While my collection is not as vast as a hardcore collector I do have quite a bit as can be seen here:

http://connect.collectorz.com/users/pvthudson01/comics/view

Now with the digital applications and my iPad2 I can get caught up AND save on storage space. Do I miss handling the comic and have it in my hands and then bagging it and putting it in the box? Not really. Do I dislike that what I have now is a digital version that can only be accessed with an internet connection? Yes. I feel like I don't really "own" the book. The same way as I didn't really "own" my online Magic the Gathering collection.

Not that Marvel or DC will suddenly disappear. But what if they did. Would all that money be wasted?

Magic the Gathering Online is still going strong (it has had a longer lifespan than some crappy MMO's) so maybe there is not much to worry about. Yet that feeling is always in the back of your mind.

Magic the Gathering Online:

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnline.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/whatshappening

So with the digital comics application in the iTunes stores I can have alerts sent, browse by series, have instant delivery, sort by character, titles, artist etc etc and read the comics in frame by frame zoom mode as well. Purists will hate it but personally I like it. As I near the end of the comic it even takes me to the next issue in the series or shows related titles.

To track all my titles (physical and digital) I used Comic Collectorz. I have used this app for a while and find it to be the best. It boasts outstanding features and even has a wi-fi sync to my iPad2.

You can find the app here:

http://www.collectorz.com/comic/features.php

I made a new category for all comics to list whether it is digital or not. You can fine tune the fields in the database with a simple click.


If you need an application on your iPad to browse BOTH Marvel and DC check out the application called "COMICS". The only comic platform that has Marvel, DC and The Walking Dead all in one so you can have both accounts in one application and not have to load two separate ones depending on publisher.

More info on that application here:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/comics/id303491945?mt=8




Saturday, May 26, 2012

Slowest Diablo 3 leveler ever: this guy right here

A lot of my friends are 60 and playing the game on levels I can only dream of after just about 2 weeks of playing Diablo 3. Not me. I am still in normal mode with no character over level 19. That is right: I am the most retardedly slow Diablo 3 player in the world.

Part of this is because I have a myriad of hobbies. I do not sit in front of my computer all the time anymore and I do a lot of things away from home. I read comics, I play miniature games, I watch movies and I work like a mother fucker. Still work is just a means to pay for my Warhammer and Infinity.

I spent some time on my Diablo 3 alts this week namely my Monk. I have been experimenting on the games random spawns and events and testing to see how random the loot drops are. I did get a yellow doll out of chest with my monk so of course now I have to play a witch doctor. I like this pace. I have turned off the instant join feature so that my power gaming friends cannot come in and one shot my bosses. After 10 years I am taking my time and doing everything.

My monk has a nice ability called deadly reach. In the Festering Woods near the end of Act 1 this comes in handy with those annoying spirit spawns that teleport all over. He also has the ability to close the distance fast with a dashing strike move. Once he gets into it he can dish out a lot of damage. I want to work on my wizard next perhaps this weekend. Until then I will be on Daimos my monk.

Thus far the game is fairly easy although I have died due to some unexpected consequences in Act 2. Some of those monsters are very irritating to track down as a melee character.

Darr, my barbarian, is in Act 2 and having a blast. I want all the achievements though so I want each alt to work through the first few stages.




Friday, May 25, 2012

38 Studios....get over it

I'm tired of the fact that every time a company that is doing NOTHING ORIGINAL bombs on a huge boring MMO project and fine people lose their jobs there is a sentiment of "what a shame" floating around the MMO bloggers and apologists.

Look: the MMO industry is stale and boring right now. As evidenced by the 10 million dollar flop that Star Wars the Old Republic will be voice acting and gimmicks will not get you by. The industry bubble needs to pop and this may be one of the many recent straws that breaks the proverbial camel's back.

Sure it is bad that people will lose their jobs but you know what? You knew what you were in for. People lose jobs everyday and making another fucking generic MMO in a genre with a TON of them many free to play is going to get you nowhere but Bustville folks.

I am glad this is happening. Get these companies out of the market, get em off the ideas of orcs and tanking and shitty retread MMO's and get them thinking out of the box. A little like Tera did. Just a little but not enough.

STOP MAKING SHITBAG FANTASY MMO's we don't need em, the public is bored of them and no one cares.

Full press release on the 38 Studios layoffs can be seen here:


http://kotaku.com/5913102/rumor-38-studios-shutting-down-big-huge-games

And by the way Amalur was garbage. A shitty console fighter at best no better than Darksiders.


Thursday, May 24, 2012

Pegasus Hobbies Chemical Plant

The other part of my Infinity board terrain is in. A Pegasus Hobbies plastic Chemical Plant kit.

Not sure I will get this ready for the weekend but its nice to have a plastic kit to work on.

William Wallace also came in. Now to assemble and build for the planned weekend which is about 1 month in the making. Then next week its back to Warhammer as I continue losing the campaign.


Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Micro Art Studio District 5 Apartment

Ordered this building from Micro Art Studio:

Wasn't really sure what I was in for. Had never put together a thing like this before.

It was a beastly nightmare. Things like that are exactly why I do resin and fully painted pre built buildings. Same reason I cannot put together paper buildings.

Currently it looks like this:

More like a log cabin than a run down sci fi building. No thanks. I have some other Infinity terrain coming in the mail. I need a ton before this weekend.

Monday, May 21, 2012

First game of Infinity

I wouldn't say it was a "game" more of a demo to test the rules. I have to say I really liked it.

At first the most confusing thing about the game to me was life after a "Codex". As in your armies lists and stats are including WITH the game and quite short. This is a game about skills of individual models. Therefore the entire makeup of your army is reliant on range of weapons and having a crack squad that works well together. If you make a list with nothing but pistols and shotguns you better hope there is a lot of terrain to get in close.

Army lists revolve around 100-250 points or so and making sure you have at least one Lieutenant. From there you piece out individual models and must take into account hackers, medics, anti tank weapons, close combat specialists, paradroppers, snipers and more.

Once you get that idea the rules are actually quite simple. The best way to play the game is to use the basic quick start rules (provided either by Corvus Belli or Beasts of War) and then as you go simply read up in the rulebook on the skill you are trying to use and apply it.

The game has morale, close combat and all that but it is done much more smoothly and effortlessly  than Warhammer 40k thus its enjoyable. Basically if you have to make and succeed at an armor check you need to make a GUTS test or stop and look for cover.



A VERY detailed comparison of what other game players can expect when switching to Infinity can be found here:

http://wargamingtrader.com/infinity/intro1

I experimented with long range and short range weapons, orders, close combat and different morale rules.

I will post more later once I get some games in this weekend.

By the way the fluff for this game is awesome as is the quality of the rulebook. Just remember to focus on learning only the skills your models have or you WILL get overwhelmed.

If you have a mobile device I highly recommend keeping a link to the Infinity Wiki on it. Below is a direct link to all the special skills and you will see what I mean when I say there are MANY possibilities in this game:

http://infinitythegame.wikispot.org/Special_Skills

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

BattleNet woes but Tera fun

BattleNet was pissing me off all night so I logged out and gave Diablo 3 a break for the first night.

Instead I logged into Tera and surprisingly the game is growing on me. Tera as a pay to play MMO probably won't survive (just too much competition in a saturated market) and eventually go F2P but the game's combat (all action oriented) makes it as close to a online Skyrim as you can get. At least fighting wise. Very positional and target oriented. Don't aim when you fight? You miss. Tanks can have people get behind them to absorb damage etc etc.

I am still stuck on the rather tame noobie Island of Dawn but that is fine for now while I learn the ropes. I don't fall asleep while I play it and that is all that matters.

Also game keeps me logging in and that says something. Much different than the flop that Star Wars the Old Republic turned out to be. Currently leveling a priest but also dabbling with a warrior.


Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Fix for Diablo 3 install error: "Could not Install. Invalid Installation Options"

The fix was quite simple. If you are trying to install the digital version of Diablo 3 that you download right from your Battle.Net account and you get this error:

Take the Diablo-III-Setup-enUS.exe and simply move it and place it in C:\Program Files.

Run it again and accept all defaults. Problem solved.

Diablo 3: Darr is born again

Ah its been 11 long years but we finally have a LIVE Diablo 3 and one of my first RPG characters I ever made in a computer game is back! Darr the barbarian. The lovable oaf that once got killed fighting Diablo in the original Diablo 1 and had to wait for a friend to connect via LAN to get his corpse back has RETURNED!

And he is a bit beefier I might add. He has obviously been working out.

Servers are clogged, logging in is almost impossible and the game won't install on my work machine but hey...it's all par for the course for opening day launch.


Monday, May 14, 2012

The leap into Infinity 28mm sci-fi gaming

Having every corner of the miniature gaming genre down is a good thing. Also so is branching out. Since I cannot stand Warhammer 40k and the game it has become I have been looking for a sci fi skirmish game to get into and ever since Beasts of War did their Infinity Week I have been looking at the title from Corvus Belli very closely.

With good fluff, a awesome range of models and a good in depth combat system I decided to pursue this goal and jump into the game. With my Warhammer Fantasy armies done except for the painting I have time now to look at other games and double dip outside the GW realm of influence.

So with the superhero fix settled by SuperSystem the Sci Fi fix will be settled by Infinity. I have two games lined up later this month with some local guys to learn the ropes.

I have decided to get TWO army starters so that I can teach the game to others. I went with Combined and Ariadna. These are the two that visually stood out to me and I like the fluff as well:

Ariadna is made up of the descendents of the first human colonizing ship that disappeared into a worm-hole and was given up for lost. Isolated on a remote and hostile planet, the Ariadnes – Cossacks, Americans, Scots and Frenchmen – have evolved into a hard and technologically less advanced race, which has just made contact with the Human Sphere and is trying to carve out a niche for itself without falling under the control of the other powers.

"Infinity is a game with 28mm high metal miniatures that simulates combat and special operations in a science fiction environment with Manga aesthetics. Infinity miniatures are characterized by the high quality and detail of their modeling, the dynamism of their postures and their futuristic aesthetic."

All the rules you need are downloadable online as is a army builder program and more.

http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/en

Add to this the following site:

http://wargamingtrader.com/infinity

And you have quite a nice collection of source material and add ons for the game. The miniatures I have in the mail are as follows:

ARIADNA



COMBINED ARMY:



Micro Art is also knocking out some KILLER terrain for this game I want to pick up

http://www.shop.microartstudio.com/designed-for-infinity-c-78.html




At midnight the 11 year wait is over: Diablo 3 launch

Odds that Battle.Net implodes and ends the universe?

Nerds know what happens tonight. I doubt I will be able to stay up until midnight but we will see. Some nights I am up late and don't know why but would it be worth to even try? Probably not.

At any rate the wait is over and soon Diablo 3 will be live and then more years can pass and we can wait some more for an expansion taht will have better classes.

HUZZAH!


Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Vallejo Paint price increases

I guess it happens to everyone at some point. Even NON GW companies:

From an email I got:

Every now and again a supplier informs us of a price increase and whilst most of the time the changes are relatively minor and occur without fuss, this one's big - so we're telling you all about it! Acrylicos Vallejo, that wonderful paint company from Spain, have decided to increase the prices of the individual paints within their major paint ranges - Model Color, Model Air and Game Color - to £2.10 each, as well as pretty much everything else they produce.

VALLEJO PRICE INCREASES

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The price rise will occur on the Maelstrom Games website from the 11th of May onwards - that's this Friday, people - so if you want your Vallejo paints or paint sets or sundries at the old prices, you'd better get them by no later than midnight on Thursday night! We'll hold our prices until then even if the items are not in stock, so please feel free to order to your heart's content.

These changes are pretty big and are truly a reflection of the financial situation in Europe these days, although we can't blame Acrylicos Vallejo for that of course.

We don't know the exact details of all the price changes as yet for anything but the 17ml dropper bottles, so please bear with us: we'll let you know as soon as we know.

Four Color Figures SuperSystem

My skirmish game of choice has always revolved around wanting to play some sort of Superhero system. I wanted to start with Heroclix but that just was not up my alley. I need a game that's fast and not as intense as Warhammer for days when I just feel like beating things up and having fun.

SuperSystem Third Edition
Powerful Heroes! Deadly Villains! Horrible Henchmen!

SuperSystem 3rd edition updates the world's most comprehensive and versatile super skirmish game with revised mechanics that speed play and allow for increased diversity in character design.

Built to work with SuperFigs or any other brand of Super miniatures (in 28mm or 15mm scale), SuperSystem provides a flexible setting and campaign rules that will allow players to further develop stories and characters with each scenario played.

All players need to get started are these rules, a handful of miniatures, six-sided dice, and their imaginations!

However my gaming buddy turned me onto SuperSystem which seems to be the perfect fit.

http://www.oldglory25s.com/index.php?cat_id=547&catname=%27Rule%20Books%27

There is even an Annex site with a way to convert many popular Marvel characters to the system.

http://dave.dynip.com/cgi-bin/s2sheet.pl

What I intend to do is take all my Heroclix models and chop them off the bases and attach them to Warmachine 30mm bases (the only thing Warmachine is good for). That way I can flock and base and have entire Marvel teams ready to go.


Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Warhammer Fantasy Army: Lizardmen switch

As many may or may not know I sold my entire Tomb Kings army and switched to Lizardmen about a month ago and have not looked back since. I never really liked the lore of the Tomb Kings and the army just did not suit my play style. Not a knock on the book or anything but when I envisioned the army I wanted more undead and not giant blocks of monstrous cavalry which is dominating the play scene nowadays.

A Tomb King army for me is not huge units of Necropolis Knights and Necrosphinxes. I don't want to rely on that to get by. I wanted large units of skeletons and such and to be honest the Tomb King magic really fucking sucks.

So I adjusted and went back to the army I had before I quit which was Lizardmen. I'm a huge dinosaur nerd and I like their lore. I like the models, I had an idea of a paint scheme going in and I love those damn stegadons they are just too cool.

So my army is almost complete model wise. Still some minor assembling to do and then of course its all about painting. The army needs to be visually different from within. Skinks need to be a different color than the warriors to symbolize their place in the society.

I also have purchased a entire Wood Elf army off of Ebay (which came with a GW hard case). That gives me a good army and an army that many think is the worst in the game. But again I love the Wood Elf lore the models and I love shooty armies.

You can view the army work in progress thread at our gaming club's forums here:

http://thewarrealm.org/index.php?topic=191.0








Star Wars Old Republic fanboy era ends with a whimper not a bang

EA: The Old Republic has lost nearly 25% of its subscribers since March

Slowly but surely people are realizing what it took good gamers about 3 weeks to figure out: Star Wars the Old Republic, at least as an MMO, sucks.

Voice acting, combined with shitty graphics and stale dumbed down gameplay has caused a bleed off of over 400,000 players since the game's launch and you can bet more will follow.

Only the most die hard Star Wars geeks are sticking with it at the moment. If the name "Star Wars" was not attached to it it would die faster than Rift.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2012/05/ea-the-old-republic-has-lost-nearly-one-quarter-of-its-subscribers-since-march.ars

It looks like the analysts were right in their suspicions that EA and Bioware's The Old Republic MMO is already losing subscribers just a few months after its late 2011 launch. In an earnings report issued today, EA announced that the game currently has 1.3 million active subscribers, down nearly 25 percent from the 1.7 million active subscribers reported in March

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Elders Scrolls Online and leaked article

Hey here you go: a leaked article about the upcoming generic and stupid Elder Scrolls Online...a game that we totally do not need and may be the biggest losing money sink Bethesda has undertaken.

http://imgur.com/a/fO9Ty#8



If you want to read more about this garbage game that will probably be worse than Dungeons and Dragons Online check out the fact finding links here

http://skyrimofftherecord.com/2012/05/04/internet-posts-fuel-speculation-on-teso-details

The one minute lame trailer (with no footage or relevant details) doesn't do much to excite the crowd either.

GEE! That was AWESOME! Already dipshit gamers across the webz are posting idiotic things like "CANT WAIT FOR TESONLINE!" on their Twitters like a bunch of morons.

Gamers really are the stupidest breed of people aren't we?


Friday, May 4, 2012

Minecraft: treehouse

I like to use trees early on in a new world to get up off the ground. Hack a set of steps into the leaves, climb up and build a base.

Then take the trunk out and watch the leaves slowly die away until you are left with nothing but a concrete tree house.

Good tactic to use while you get the resources to survive early on.


Adepticon comes and goes, vendors get worse

Adepticon not as much fun this year. While the 40k room is an awesome spectacle each year round basers take up more and more room and the vendor space shrinks to less and less. This time the grand ballroom vendors were down to one tiny lane packed with the usual garbage and nothing that spectacular. Meanwhile in the hallway leading to the Warhammer Fantasy rooms were scattered some lame vendors with a few tables hocking wares I could care less about.

Gone were the massive modeling displays, the unique setups by the vendors, the larger proportion of game demonstrations and an easily viewable display of the painting competition. Instead what we get is more bumping into the backpack of 300 pound lard asses as they shove their blue Space Marines into Land Raiders. Great.

Grand total time spent at Adepticon (and I live right down the road from it): 3 hours of boredom.

While it is no GenCon it is the coolest miniatures event for sure but it really is starting to get too big for its britches. Soon that dinky Westin Hotel will not be able to accommodate that event. It is also bad enough this year that games like Blood Bowl got relegated to the 16th floor while shitbag games like Warmachine got their own room. Also the other specialist games room was boring and uneventful. I saw a handful of people playing them and even worse Lord of the Rings, the room that houses the armpit of the miniature gaming world, was dead as a doornail. Put that shit on the 16th floor and give Blood Bowlers back their room. No one fucking plays Lord of the Rings anyway.

Well thats my wrap up! Full pictures of the coolest Warhammer Fantasy armies can be seen here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55573268@N06/sets/72157629868536145/